Headwear



April 25, 1944. R. SOLMAN (2,347,442

HEADWEAR Filed Dec. 19, 1941 INVENTOR.

zf/farwey Patented Apr. 25, 1944 UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE Application December 19, 1941, Serial No. 423,657

In Great Britain January 18, 1941 Y Claims. (01'. 2,1s5

This invention is concerned with that type of headwear known as a Forage cap', (sometimes known also as a Glengarry) such as are at present used by many men in the armed forces; and with headwear of a similar shape and which is similarly collapsible into fiat form. These will be referred to generically as Forage caps.

One disadvantage of this type of head covering is that it is not usually a secure fit on the wearers head, and it can often be dislodged by a high wind, or even by vigorous movement of the head. Accordingly, it is one object of this invention to provide means whereby forage caps may be more tightly and securely worn, to the increased comfort and peace of mind of the wearer.

Again, forage caps, when without any rigid shaping or stiffening material, are liable to lose their desired smart appearance after a short period of use, and it is therefore a further object of this invention to apply the means above referred to in such a way as also to improve the appearance and set of the caps.

According to the invention there is provided in or for a forage cap, or similarly-shaped head covering, a stiffener which comprises means to engage and bear against the ends of the cap interiorly, and members extending therefrom to lie one each side of the central valley or depression of the cap and act springwise on the said endengaging means, to resist longitudinal contraction of the cap and thereby tend to retain the cap in the flat collapsed position, and the stiffener is characterised in that, to facilitate relative longitudinal movement between the stiffener and cap, the said members, at least at one end of the stiffener, are shaped so as not to grip the cap springwise between them. In the more usual forms of the invention, the said members will be shaped substantially to the profile of the ridges of the cap, and will lie well up in the ridge folds.

The end-engaging means will include or comprise a junction between the members extending therefrom, which junction will pass below the central valley or depression in the hat, and the junction may be a mere bend or fold, or a connection between two otherwise independent members.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the stiffener is made of a single piece of wire folded at each end, the abutting extremities being joined by a sleeve into which they fit. The ends of the folded wire are bent downwardly to'lie against the end folds of the cap, and the two longitudinal parts are formed with a V gap to allow of slight longitudinal contraction to suit caps of different length. The wire has suflicient resistance to flexing to cause it to return to its normal form from any deflection caused by the opening of the cap for wear. The result is that the constant tendency of the cap to re-close to the flat position imparts a pressure on the wearers head and thereby allows of a more secure hold of the cap.

The operative parts of the device may be made of metal (for example-stainless steel wire, or stainless steel flat-sectioned metal), or may be made as a plastic moulding or of whalebone, or of other stiff but relatively springy material.

The accompanying drawing illustrates some of the various possible forms of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a forage cap to show the type of cap with which the invention is concerned;

Fig. 2 is a sectional perspective view of a similar cap with one of the improved stiffeners in position;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the stiffener alone;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, illustrating an alternative form of the invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, the stiffener compnses a single length of wire having longitudinal side-by-side parts I, and downwardlyturned end parts 2. The members or extremities of the wire abut, tip to tip, and are secured together tightly by a surrounding sleeve 3. The downwardly-turned part 2 at the forward end of the cap is shown somewhat longer than that at the rear of the cap, but this need not always be so. Near the centre of their length, the parts I are bent to a V shape 4, this providing an expansible and contractable deformation which allows some degree of endwise contraction of the stiffener as it is placed in the cap, and thereby increases the stiffening effect, owing to the increased endwise pressure. The position of these V gaps along the parts I may vary for different shapes of cap. The V gaps 4 also permit of the same stiffener being adaptable for caps of different sizes, and they also provide a convenient means for securing the stiffener in position by the stitching 4. It will be seen that the turned down parts 2 are of open V form tending to hold the members I at a distance from each other.

Those portions of the side-by-side parts I between the turned-down ends 2 and the gaps 4, may be straight as shown in Fig. 3 or may be shaped to conform with the ridges of the cap, as

in Fig. 2. When they are straight, and the stiifener becomes contracted in the cap, such contraction may cause them to be bowed to the shape of the ridges.

In use, the stiffener straddles the crease A in the cap, with the parts I lying one each side of the central crease, and not only do they maintain a smart line in the ridges of the cap, but their constant endwise pressure, tending as it does to keep the cap flat, causes the sides of the cap to grip the wearers head.

Fig. 4 illustrates a modification of the form shown in Fig. 3, the lower parts of the V gaps 4 being enlarged at 5 to receive and hold a transverse securing member or members of any suitable form. Instead of the enlargements 5 being open at the top as shown, they may be closed by reason of the wire having a complete coil at those points. In this figure also, one end of the stiffener has a turned-down end and the other not.

It is not essential that the longitudinal parts I shoulder lie close up in the ridges of the cap, for they may be at a lower level and may be straight instead of being curved to the shape of the cap ridges.

What I claim is:

1. A stiffener for a forage cap comprising parallel rigid members connected together at their ends by downwardly-turned extensions and formed intermediate their ends with downwardly-directed deformations allowing longitudinal movement between the ends.

2. A stiffener for a forage cap comprising a single length of wire folded into parallel relationship, with its ends connected together, the folded extremities being turned downwards and the remaining folded portion inclining downwardly from a deep V displacement at the centre.

3. A stiffener for a forage cap comprising a two-fold longitudinal member to straddle the central crease of the cap at its ends without gripping the crease, and to bear against the ends of the cap interiorly, each fold of such member having a deep kink allowing contraction in its length under pressure from the cap ends and being secured to the cap at the kink, and the stiffener being of a springy material at such kink so as to tend always to resist such pressure.

4. A stiffener for a forage cap comprising side members arranged to straddle the crease in the cap, said stiffener extending interiorly of the cap the entire length thereof and being resilient and of a sufiicient length to be placed under tension and exert pressure against the ends of the cap when inserted therein, whereby the cap is maintained in a flat condition when not in use and is caused to fit tightly on the head of a person when in use.

5. A stiifener for a forage cap comprising parallel rigid members connected together by their ends, at least one end having a downwardlyturned extension and both the members being formed intermediate their ends with downwardly-directed deformations allowing longitudinal movement between the ends.

ROBERT SOLMAN. 

